Kaiden's mana pressure swelled. The crimson deepened at its edges, and the stone around him splintered. The air on the mountainside grew heavy in a way that had nothing to do with altitude.
His eyes were fixed on Selena. The crimson in them had stopped flickering. It was solid now, consuming the white, and the irises burned like coals pressed into his skull.
Cassian's face went white. Calix took a half-step backward.
The crimson mana pouring off Kaiden's body had turned visible, a haze of dark red energy that clung to his frame and seeped outward from his skin. The stone beneath him groaned. Small rocks lifted from the ground around his feet, suspended in the field of his fury, trembling.
"Kai, stop!" Aria's voice cut through from above, raw and desperate.
When he spoke, his voice was wrong. Deeper. Layered. As if something behind his vocal cords had woken up and was speaking alongside him.
